FoGR1695 in Oxford 2013
Buccaneer vs Later Polish
Game 2 Buccaneer vs Anglo-Dutch
Game 3 Buccaneer vs Louis XIV French
Game 4 Buccaneer vs Later Polish
Arrr! The last game, and an in-club matchup against Dave and his Polish Lithuanians. The fear of more mounted opponents, tempered by the likelihood of a lot more foote against which to charge raised the Pirate' spirits as the last game of the tournament hove into view.
The lists for the Buccaneer and Later Polish from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Oxford can be seen here in the FoGR Wiki.
Splice the Mainbrace! Even more excitingly, the Ship was on the table at last! The sails billowed as she cruised down the waterway …. And the Poles wisely deployed a long, long way away from it, making it potentially impotent. But still cool.
The table was much more favourable this time, with loads of clutter and terrain encroaching from the left hand side towards the middle, making it hard for the Poles to do much in terms of cute outflanking moves. our band o'cutthroats knew they could concentrate force and have rear support - and the Poles also had no artillery to speak of either, making the afternoon a lot better prospect than the morning.
What's floatin' me rowboat 'ere then?
This time there is planty of terrain on table to reduce the width for the Pirates. The Poles have set up defensively, and plan to meet the Pirate attack with a mix of infantry and Horse/Cavalry. They have avoided getting too near the waterway.
The Poles threw out a skein of Dragoons, ostensibly to delay our band o'cutthroats - but a wall of muskets does not see delay in this tactic, instead they see a chance to shoot down a few enemy units before the true battle is properly joined. Our band o'cutthroats raised their muskets and took careful aim….
Why couldn't the pirate get over the Berlin Wall?
It had bARRRRRRbed wire!
Soon the skies were dark with flying lead, and the Polish Dragoons were reeling in shock as our band o'cutthroats carved them apart - a unit was lost from sheer firepower, and the rest were concerned about being overwhelmed. He delaying tactic had washed up on our band o'cutthroats encroaching beach of firepower.
What's rattlin me anchor chains 'ere then?
The Polish Dragoons are battered by shooting as the Pirates advance steadily on a broad frontage. On the Pirate left the Poles are thinking about pushing a unit of Cavalry through the terrain and into the Pirate flank, and the Pirates despatch dragoons and infantry to slow it down.
Polish Plumbers
Another volley and the Dragoons were no more. The rather sheepish Polish general could be spied through a Pirate telescope as retreating in a disheartened fashion.
Raise the Jolly Roger! On the left flank the Poles were probing gently with musketeers and Horse, as our band o'cutthroats drifted aimlessly. This was definitely a flank where our band o'cutthroats planned to just play a holding game, and time was as good as combat in keeping the Poles at bay and away from the real battle which would surely take place in the middle.
As the Ship drifted down the waterway a coherent formation of Pirates marched unopposed down the flank under the protection of the watching naval gunnes. The Poles had put nothing to oppose them and our band o'cutthroats were in the unusual position of executing what looked like an envelopment against the static Polish line.
What are pirate afraid of?
Sharrrrrrrks!!
The Barbary Pirates on the left pulled back, again trading time as they kept the Poles at arms length whilst still keeping them from marching
Shiver me timbers! In the middle our band o'cutthroats were moving rapidly towards combat against the well prepared Polish positions of Shotte with Hussars lurking ready to fill the gaps in the Polish line when required.
What's burying me treasure 'ere then?
The Polish Dragoons have been obliterated and the Pirates continue to advance in a broad line towards the Poles. With nothing to delay them the Pirates are managing to keep their formation relatively coherent, as the Poles inch closer to the woodlands on their right, seeking to anchor their right flank against the coming attack.
The weight of the Pirate attack was on both wings, where terrain could give advantages to them against the possible threat of Polish Pancerni and Hussars
Polish Cafe
Thar she blows! Shooting was chipping away at both armies as the two lines closed on each other, as the Pirate Great Commander encouraged his men forwards. The Pirate attack looked somewhat piecemeal, but the Poles were not entirely confident either.
Blow me down! With the dangerous Hussars faced off by a large unit of Impact Foot Pirates, the Old Superior Pirates were first into action - risking enemy overlaps to get themselves into hand to hand action against a unit of Polish shooters, before they were shot away to nothing. Charging home they gambled everything, Pirate-style by going in with a General ..
What do pirates use to defend themselves?
Arrrrrmor!
Son of a biscuit eater! Elsewhere the Pancerni had taken it upon themselves to engage our band o'cutthroats before their fearsome charge could catch the Polish foote in the open - and they gained an initial upper hand DISR'ing one of the Pirate units. But the Pancerni were by no means intact themselves, having taken some damage from Pirate shooting too, making it a far more even battle than in the prior game.
Our band o'cutthroats who had marched down the waterway had now returned to the action - no Poles had risked themselves in the realm of Naval Gunnery, so our band o'cutthroats had swing back in towards the main lines, and now what a looked like an unstoppable tide of Piracy was pouring down on the Poles - in reality the odds were even, but psychologically the mass of colourful Pirates had the upper hand…
What's burying me treasure 'ere then?
The two lines are now fully engaged across a broad frontage. The Poles have enjoyed some early successes but now weight of numbers is starting to tell for the Pirates against the smaller Polish units. The Polish atempt to sneak through the terrain on the left is petering out..
After their initial success at Impact the Polish Pancerni by the woodland were starting to stuggle against the sheer weight of Pirate cutlasses arcing towards them at close quarters. our band o'cutthroats had recovered cohesion, and the Poles were losing bases. The tide was turning here in the direction of the Black Pearl
Heave Ho! The Hussars decided it was their time to take the limelight, and charged forward, catching 2 Pirate units with their charge. The largest unit dropped immediately to FRAGGED, but led by a General the smaller one held firm. An intriguing battle was developing
Polish Hussars
With all their horse already committed the Poles had little left with which to prevent the tide of Impact Foote crashing into the rest of their cowering infantry line and givin' 'em the taste of cold cutlass !
The Hussars completed their rout of the Impact Foote unit, but still the other Pirates were holding firm, and by now the Superior Pirates had despatched their opponents and were lurking ominously to the right flank of the embattled Hussars….
Our band o'cutthroats continued to hack away at the rapidly thinning Polish units, and step by step they were grinding them down by dint of greater numbers and Dave having forgotten that some of his infantry were armed with Heavy Weapon as well as Musket.
Things were getting as spicy as a creole gumbo as the Pancerni attacked our band o'cutthroats who had snuck down the flank by the waterway - a rude awakening for thePirates as they dropped to DISR at impact. The flank was now at risk too and the tide was turning perhaps to the Poles..
Meanwhile, our intrepid reporter phones in a report from the Middle of Nowhere, on the banks of the river Irrelevant, as Hussars wander blindly through a forest being sniped at by Pirate dragoons and skirmishers as the Pirate infantry keep safely out of the way
Suddenly a breakthrough! The longstanding melee by the forest finally saw the Polish Pancerni destroyed and routing, opening up the field for more pirate-shaped action as the polish foote, once bastioned on either side by Horse, now found themselves isolated and double overlapped (and sword armed overlaps are at ++ POAs)
Our band o'cutthroats by the river had reformed their lines, and as the Poles continued to push forward piecemeal they were starting to get isolated - and the longer the battle went on without a Polish breakthrough, the more our band o'cutthroats weight of numbers would come to count
On the other flank it was now only the continuing bravery of a lone unit of Polish foote that was holding up a tide of Pirates from sweeping the rest of the Polish army from the field - even the Old Pirates who had earlier blown a hole in the middle of the Polish army had now had the chance to turn around and were planning on joining the already unequal fight
What's burying me treasure 'ere then?
The longer the battle goes on the more Polish units fall below 50% and break and flee. Their Horse in the centre is all but gone, leaving isolated pockets of infantry to be overwhelmed by the hordes of Pirate swordsmen.
The Polish foote evaporated, and jubilant Pirates streamed through the woodlands, crashing into a second line Polish formation who had been hoping very much to avoid the battle
Beside the river our band o'cutthroats were finding it tough going against resolute Polish resistance - they struggled to achieve a breakthrough and were dropping bases and cohesion on a regular basis
But, soon after, the weight of accumulated casualties saw off the Poles, and our band o'cutthroats claimed another spectacular victory! The Result is a massive victory for Piracy!
What's a drainin' me flask of rum 'ere then?
The Polish army is in tatters as the tide of Pirates have swept through them frontally. The narrow frontage created by the terrain and waterway has allowed the Pirates to concentrate their forces and avoid being outflanked, and in this game they have also maneged to stand up reasonably well to mounted where they have been caught in the open. The lack of Polish artillery meant that the Pirates were almost always in good order when the two lines clashed, unlike in the previous game.
Read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Buccaneer Commander
Well, what a jolly old outcome this has turned out to be me hearties! Three victories, one defeat which we shall swiftly brush under the carpet (or GW playing mat) and a shiny new 2nd place trophy for the team of Pirates! All we need to do now is steal a couple of the other trophies at cutlass point, hoist the mainsail and find a suitable deserted island on which to busy our booty - lets just hope this time we don't lose the map after burning a small hole in it which conveniently obscures the vital detail necessary to find the treasure again eh?
The bravery of the naval crew was utmost in this victory. Even though they had spent the previous 3 games locked in the dark of a steel tin and playing no part, and despite the fact they rolled not a dice in anger in this game either I throught that their role, in effectively narrowing the table by a good 14 inches and thus condeming the Poles to try and take us on on a 3 foot frontage was decisive to say the least. They deserve the plaudits here for sure
The rest of the game, including the sweeping outflanking move we executed down by the waters edge was all good too, although technically we didn't reallyy outflank the enemy, just fought then in a solid line to their front on that side of the table.
Elsewhere mention must be made of the units who stood up against Hussars - fortunate though we were that they are generally considered overpriced and only deployed in minimal quantities even though they would have been almopst unstoppable against any part of our forces. Alll in all a good wekends work, and one which gives me ggreat comfort as yet again I retire to my luxuriously appointed Captains Quarters for a well earned snifter...
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
A pirate is a man that is weak to achieve but too strong to steal from even the greatest achiever, and here your achievement, if it can be called such, was stolen right from the off, by the injudicious deployment of dragoons by your opponent. Even after that you continued to make heavy weather of achieving victory, despite the fortuitous advantage of being gifted 6 APs right from the off by the foolish dragoons - were it not such a close run thing the result could easily have been the converse here.
If you turn up at an event again with no plan for dealing with decent mounted I’ll send you to feed the bleedin’ catfish - your theory of rear support and Generals is I guess as best as can be achieved in the absence of any other troops capable of withstanding a horseflesh charge, but how on earth can you get yourself into such a situation where you rely on luck and being beaten slowly to grind a win? Choose another army - please, and leave the Pirates for the tight themes where they are expected to do well.
I suppose I should pay a grudging respect for achieving a final podium placing, but to do so is not in my nature as you so well know, and I fear that Damnation would seize my soul if I gave you quarters, or take any from you - so onwards to another more usual performance next competition we sail!
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Game 2 Buccaneer vs Anglo-Dutch
Game 3 Buccaneer vs Louis XIV French
Game 4 Buccaneer vs Later Polish
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